The 1947 major league baseball season began on April 15, 1947. The regular season ended on September 28, with the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees as the regular season champions of the National League and American League, respectively. The postseason began with Game 1 of the 44th World Series on September 30 and ended with Game 7 on October 6. In the second iteration of this Subway Series World Series matchup, the Yankees defeated the Dodgers, four games to three, capturing their 11th championship in franchise history, since their previous in . Going into the season, the defending World Series champions were the St. Louis Cardinals from the season.
The 14th Major League Baseball All-Star Game was held on July 8 at Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, home of the Chicago Cubs. The American League won, 2âÂÂ1.
The 1947 season is most notable as the year that the baseball color line broke, thanks to the Brooklyn Dodgers starting Jackie Robinson on Opening Day.
On April 15, Opening Day for the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers, Jackie Robinson was in the Dodgers' lineup, playing first base against the Boston Braves at Ebbets Field. His appearance in a major league game broke the baseball color line, the practice of excluding players of black African descent. Though he endured epithets and death threats, as well as a slow start, his skill would earn him the first ever Rookie of the Year award, named in Robinson's honor 40 years later.
Halfway through the season on July 5, the American League's Cleveland Indians debuted Larry Doby, becoming the first black player in the American League and breaking the AL color line. Doby was a more low-key figure, suffered many of the same indignities that Robinson did, albeit with less press coverage.
Kansas City Monarchs star Willard Brown and teammate Hank Thompson briefly played for the St. Louis Browns, becoming the third and fourth Black players in either the NL or AL, and made the St. Louis Browns the first of either the NL or AL to field two Black players on one roster. Brown was the first black player to hit a home run in the American League.
The 1947 schedule consisted of 154 games for all teams in the American League and National League, each of which had eight teams. Each team was scheduled to play 22 games against the other seven teams of their respective league. This continued the format put in place since the season (except for ) and would be used until in the American League and in the National League.
Opening Day took place on April 15, featuring all sixteen teams, continuing the trend from . The final day of the regular season was on September 28, which also saw all sixteen teams play, continuing the trend from the previous season. This was the first time since that all sixteen teams played their first and last games on the same days. The World Series took place between September 30 and October 6.
The 1947 season saw the following rule changes:
11 tie games (7 in AL, 4 in NL), which are not factored into winning percentage or games behind (and were often replayed again) occurred throughout the season.
The postseason began on September 30 and ended on October 6 with the New York Yankees defeating the Brooklyn Dodgers in the 1947 World Series in seven games.
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<sup>1</sup> American League Triple Crown batting winner
After playing at both League Park (where they played 45 seasons in part or in full) and Cleveland Stadium (where they played 13 season in part or in full) since (sans through ), the Cleveland Indians permanently move into Cleveland Stadium leaving their inaugural park, having played at League Park for 45 seasons (every season since excluding 1933). Previously, the Indians would typically play home games at League Park on weekdays and Cleveland Stadium on weekends. They would go on to play at Cleveland Stadium for a total of 60 seasons through .